It is rare nowadays who has not accompanied a meal with a good beer. Wherever you are, there are always different brands of this fermented beverage made from sprouted barley grains and flavored with hops, an ingredient that gives it its bitter taste.
If you are in Cuba you can enjoy, for example, a good Bucanero or Cristal, and if you get to the province of Holguin you can also enjoy the famous Mayabe beer, a very popular brand and of course accepted by the inhabitants of this region of the archipelago who consume it, especially during carnivals, birthday or New Year’s Eve parties and when a group of family and friends decide to have an informal get-together.
Like many other products, beer also has its history. The first traces of its existence date back to 4,000 B.C., when the Sumerians – creators of a flourishing civilization in Mesopotamia – recorded on clay tablets how to brew siraku. It was a drink made from fermented barley grains and bread.
Centuries later, the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres, gave beer its name: at that time the Gauls called it cervicia or cerevicia and the Hispanics ceria or celia.
This beverage contains more than two thousand compounds, all natural: water, malted barley, hop flowers, yeast and others. Its minerals and vitamins, especially of the B group, make it compatible with a healthy and balanced diet, provided it is drunk in moderation and is not contraindicated. In addition, it has a lower alcohol content compared to other beverages.
According to several scientific studies, soluble fiber, in adequate amounts and as part of a healthy diet, can help regulate cholesterol levels and facilitate digestion and intestinal transit.
Moderate consumption of beer provides a significant amount of the recommended intake of soluble fiber, much more than that of commercial fruit juices, soft drinks and other alcoholic beverages.
It can also complement the fiber intake of other foods such as cereals, which are very rich in soluble fiber. The recommended intake of dietary fiber is 30 grams daily, of which one third should be soluble.
The Bucanero beer factory is located in Holguin. There I was able to talk to Miguel Avila Perez, a specialist in brewing chemistry, graduated in Dresden, Germany. He tells us that “beer brewing comprises three essential phases: malting or obtaining malt, making the wort with malt or hops (wort: name given to different broths obtained by mixing vegetable matter with water, which are used to make alcohol or alcoholic beverages)”.
“The third step is fermentation, which is due to a yeast that transforms fermentable sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.”
“Fermentation takes place in two stages: a main fermentation and a secondary fermentation. In certain cases – called bottom fermentation – fermentation takes place at a temperature of eight degrees and lasts from eight to 10 days, while the second fermentation lasts from two to three months between zero and two degrees”.
“In other cases -high fermentation- the temperature is, first, 15 to 20 degrees for four or five days, and then four to five degrees.”
Bottling in bottles, barrels, drums or other containers is done with isobarometric taps, which fit hermetically into the container and allow it to be filled and capped without lowering the liquid pressure, otherwise the beer would lose part of its carbon dioxide gas.
On average, beer contains 12 percent extract -dextrin, maltose, pentosan and others-, nine percent nitrogenous matter, five percent alcohol -there are those of 12 or more degrees-, three percent mineral matter, 0.25 percent carbon dioxide gas, 0.25 percent glycerin and small quantities of tannin, organic acids and coloring matter.
According to Avila, “factors such as high or low fermentation and the degree of roasting of the barley give rise to a wide range of aromas, colors and flavors: classic blonde, with great refreshing power, and one of the most universally consumed; extra and black beers, beers with a high alcoholic content, and beers with a high alcoholic content.
The different types of beers are drunk according to the occasion. The blonde and light beers generally go perfectly with meals, family or social parties, or friendly gatherings. The dark one, less widespread, can be drunk according to taste, indistinctly.
The important thing is to consume both without exaggeration, so that when a group of friends or family gather to enjoy a good beer and refresh ourselves, as is the case for those of us who live in tropical areas.
On another occasion I will come back to tell you more about this sparkling beverage that is also made in the city of Holguin, with high international quality, while I enjoy an excellent Bucanero beer, the brand I prefer as a Cuban when it comes to cooling off from the intense heat in this northern summer.
Translated by Aliani Rojas Fernandez
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